Karen is a creative soul. She has a wonderful personality, witty and fun. Read over her answers she's shared with us today and you'll see why her art is truly unique and one of a kind.
Tell us a little bit about yourself:
My name is Karen Brazell and I am a web designer living
in Brooklyn, New York. When I'm not pixel-pushing, I enjoy creating
handmade toys, dolls, soft sculptures, art prints and greeting cards for
my business Life with Tigers.
It's one part science experiment, one part art project and one part therapy session. My products include Severed Leg Catnip Toys, dolls of monkeys, cats, dachshunds and robots, mushroom topiaries and mobiles, plus some other good stuff. I want to make things that would be given as gifts to special recipients!
I spent way too much time on the computer as a part of my job, and I felt I was missing something. I discovered that it was the joy of working with my hands. Not in a "command-option-shift" kind of way, but the feeling of pulling needle through fabric, or cutting paper and even the feeling that the ink or glue on my hands will never come off.
When did you start doing art?
I started when I was a youngling, but didn't get paid
for it until I was 17, when I got my first "art job" working in a screen
printing facility. I do remember when I was a teenager, me and a friend
would cut out people's heads from magazines, paste them on paper, draw
in cartoonish bodies and we would create stories and comics that we
would trade with each other.
My inspiration comes from all kinds of sources, including books, museum visits and the internet, but a lot of it comes from my cats. They each have such distinct personalities, and I always try to catch a bit of that in each doll I create. It's the joys and challenges of living with them that inspired the name of my business. Too many times I would mumble "that's life with tigers" when cleaning up their various messes.
What are your
long term career goals?
I've been very fortunate to have already attained some of my
career goals, but what I really crave is the chance to work with
creative people, in an environment of mutual respect and great humor. Of
course working for myself would be great too! I sometimes call Life
with Tigers my "empire" so I would like to see
it grow and evolve.
I'm afraid I've been in kind of a musical vacuum lately, and have been listening to the same songs for the past 6 months! What has been on repeat lately is Stars, Camera Obscura and a few old throwbacks, like Belly.
In the 3rd grade, made a 5 foot long alligator pinata. I remember making his teeth out of styrofoam that was cut with a hot wire, and cutting endless amounts of green tissue paper to paste to his extra-super-long body. After a week of work, he was done and fabulous, but I then had to carry that thing home! The expression on my mom's face when I arrived at the door was priceless. He hung over my bed for years.
Not really, but my brother once said "whatever blows your hair back" and I think that's a good one.
In 5 years, I still see myself fighting the never ending battle with cat hair and fabric. I will have gone through 2,430 lint rollers by then.
I sketch things out first, fighting my natural inclination to just start cutting stuff, and work from those sketches. Many of them are on sticky notes. I had to teach myself how to make patterns for the dolls as I'm not used to working in 3D. Trial and error mostly...there are some mighty strange prototypes around the studio. I've got a fantastic workspace with lots of natural light, but most of the time I end up working on the floor, engaged in a tug-of-war between me and the newest member of the pride, Moo the Kitten.
Thanks for the humor you shared with us today Karen, it was delightful!! If you'd like to see more of her wonderful creations, you can find her at the following places:
www.brooklyngrand.com (which is Ink and Sword, a collaborative art print shop)
Life With Tigers is kindly sponsoring a giveaway and two of our lucky winners will be chosen to receive one of some amazing prints: 1 Brush Cat 5x7 Art Print ( see a sample here: http://www.etsy.com/
Thanks so much Karen for sharing your world with us and I look forward to seeing what more wonderful things come to Life with Tigers!
LOVED learning about Karen and her delightful projects! Wishing you continued success in fighting the battle of cat hair & fabric. ;)
Posted by: Jan | July 05, 2010 at 09:12 AM
Loved reading this article...alas as a cat mommy I am all to familiar with the battle of cat hair! Off to check out your etsy shop..I have to see more of your severed cat nip toys :-) CLEVER!!
Posted by: Vanessa | July 05, 2010 at 07:25 PM
Too cute !!!! love the article and the introduction to artists like Karen the print is too cute...thanks for the chance!
Posted by: Katherine | July 08, 2010 at 11:52 PM